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GEO´MORI

GEO´MORI (γεωμόροι;
Doric, γάμοροι) is [p. 1.912]the name of the second of the three classes into which the inhabitants of
Attica were anciently divided (Plut. Thes.
25; Pollux, 8.111). Aristotle (ap. Schol. Plat.
Axioch. and in C. Müller, Fragm.
Hist. 2.106) calls them γεωργοί.
This class, together with the third, the δημιουργοί, was excluded from the great civil and priestly
offices which belonged exclusively to the Eupatrids, so that there was a
great distinction between the first and the two inferior classes; it is not
too much to say, indeed, that the Eupatrids were the only fully enfranchised
citizens (Gilbert, p. 115). The relation of these three classes to the four
old-Ionic tribes and the phratries is touched upon under EUPATRIDAE On this, and on
the kindred question of the precise status of the γεωμόροι, only conjectural results can be arrived at. The
name may either signify independent land--owners, or peasants who cultivated
the lands of others as tenants. The γεωμόροι have, accordingly, by some writers been thought to be
free land-owners, while others have conceived them to have been a class of
tenants. It seems, however, inconsistent with the state of affairs in
Attica, as well as with the manner in which the name γεωμόροι was used in other Greek states, to suppose that the
whole class consisted of the latter only; there were undoubtedly among them
a considerable number of freemen who cultivated their own lands, but had by
their birth no claims to the rights and privileges of the nobles (Ruhnken on
Timaeus, s. v. γεωμόροι: Valckenaer on
Hdt. 5.77, 6.22;
Arnold on Thuc. 8.21). The distinction between
the γεωμόροι and the δημιονργοὶ was perhaps social rather than political; for in
the strictly political point of view both were unimportant, and may at best
have been summoned now and then to popular assemblies, like the commonalty
in the states described by Homer. This would account for the fact that
Dionysius (2.8) only mentions two classes
of Attic citizens; one corresponding to the Roman patricians, the other to
the plebeians. But there was a social stigma attached to those who worked
for wages (βάναυσοικαὶθῆτες, Aristot.
Pol. iii. p. 1278, 12; καὶτὸνμὲνγεωργικὸνδῆμονὁρῶμενὄντα, τὸνδὲἀγοραῖον, τὸνδὲβάναϝσον, ib. iv. p. 1289 b, 32) which
placed them below the poorest cultivator or small farmer. Some inferiority
is expressed by the term ἐπιγεωμόροι, also
applied to the δημιουργοί (Etym.
M. p. 395, 54; Lex. Seguer. p. 257). (Thirlwall,
2.14; Grote, pt. ii. ch. 10, 2.280; Schömann, Antiq.
1.321, E. T.; Gilbert, Staatsalterth. 1.111 ff.)